Part of the legacy of the late fuji artiste, Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, is his various albums in which he counselled politicians, voters and other stakeholders on election matters. He will accordingly be missed in the approaching dispensation, writes AKEEM LASISI
After the burial of the fuji exponent, Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, on Thursday, the tears provoked by his death are expected to have considerably dried off. But his acolytes maintain that they will miss him for a long time. Speaking on Tuesday on the passage, for instance, afro juju star, Sir Shina Peters, told our correspondent that it was too early to think that people would have come to terms with the loss.
On his part, ace producer, Laolu Akins, said young artistes had a lot to learn from Barrister, especially in terms of the virtues in hard work and humility in stardom.
But the vacuum left by the artiste reputed to have waxed up to 120 records is bound to be felt from this January. That is when it will begin to dawn on the fans that the weaverbird who used to inspire them with political songs each time a general election approached has eternally disappeared.
As controversies, intrigues, crises and threats ushered home each major election in Nigeria, Barrister would assume the role of a counsellor, peace maker and critic. He would dedicate an album to this, with the belief that his music will exert positive change. But the elections coming in April, which are already robed in fears and anxieties, will come and go without a single word from the fuji exponent. Death, as Barrister had conceded in some of his albums, had asserted its draconian force.
In 1977, when the Second Republic was still two years away, Barrister waxed an album titled Omo Nigeria - (Fellow Nigerians), advising people on the need to be united, give peace a chance and develop a bright sense of patriotism.
During the Shagari administration, he was so close to many of the chieftains of the National Party of Nigeria - especially its late Chairman, Chief Meredith Adisa Akinloye - that he performed at many of their functions. As a result, he was accused of being member of the party, with some saying he even got some contracts from the government. He had to vehemently deny the claims in some other songs.
But what may pass for his most moving musical political thesis came on the eve of the ill-fated 1983 general elections. In an album titled Nigeria, Barrister traces the political history of the country. He recalls how power moved from British colonialists to Dr, Nnamdi Azikiwe - then to Aguyi Ironsi, Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Muhammed, Olusegun Obasanjo and then, Shagari.
With his strong power of creativity, he is able to hold the audience for as long as the sermon lasts in Nigeria, while also acknowledging the roles that other statesmen such as the late Obafemi Awolowo had played in the political evolution of the ever crawling Giant. It was the same time that his contemporary, Kollington Ayinla, released Oro Idibo on the same subject. Unfortunately, no one heeded Barrister‘s cry for caution. At the end of the day, the republic could not survive the violence that characterised the elections, with the Buhari/Idiagbon coup being the bitter fruit the nation reaped from it.
The musician repeated a similar feat with Democracy, released in 1999. Unlike Kollington who can be very blunt in his political songs, Barrister was usually able to maintain his cool. But in Democracy, he stylishly hangs a curse on those who have misruled Nigeria. After invoking the name and tenure of each of them in the fluidly flowing album, he would say, ”If it is good you did for Naija/ Whether it is the bad you did for Naija/ May God reward you accordingly.”
Lovers of his music who want to feel more of his political vibe will find such in albums or songs such as Military (1984); Maturity/ Adieu Obafemi Awolowo, (1987), Fantasia Fuji/Ma se Rere (1991); Precaution (1995), Prophecy (1998) and Adieu MKO Abiola (1998).
Source:http://www.punchng.com
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